The lawyers of the defendants demanded to replace the Judges panel but their request was rejected.

Updated : Now the head of Minya investigation is saying that all the defenders are in jail and not on the run. He also stated that the judge refused their attendance !!

The lawyers of the defendants "not in absentia" were not allowed to defend their defendants !!They were not allow to see or discuss the evidence in fact the judge did not discuss any evidence or anything !!

According to the Egyptian laws such big number of suspects you cannot prove that all of them are implicated in first degree murder and so it is impossible to sentence all that number legally to death.

One of the lawyers in the case revealed only 22 out of the 529 defendants are Muslim Brotherhood members. Of course there are no official ID membership for the brotherhood yet concerning this point , I believe he meant the famous leading members in the area as well the members of Freedom and Justice Party.

A father and a son "from Pro-MB supporters" are convicted in the case !! A person in a wheel chair was sentenced in the case to death while other two were proven to be outside Minya in the first place !!

Some say that there are four people killed in Rabaa Sit in are included too !!

This is the biggest mass death sentence in the history of Egyptian judiciary.

The Egyptian embassy in London sent an email to journalists , the foreign journalists of course explaining the independence of judiciary as well emphasizing the fact that there will be appeal naturally in death sentences.

Back to Cairo the official spokesperson of ministry of foreign affairs Ambassador Badr Abdel Atti said the judiciary in Egypt was independent and that they could not comment on the court rulings...etc.

You must know also after the court ruling at least two Coptic schools in Minya were torched in retaliation.

I know very well the hell erupted in Minya following the the dispersal of Rabaa sit in , I know it very well . I know what happened to the Churches there. I know also there is something called justice I care for more than anything. What happened earlier today is not Justice.

I know very well that this sentence will be overturned but till it does , it will unleash real hell in Minya. We are speaking about tribal armed society in Upper Egypt.

12 comments:

I remember writing on here how my hopes and aspirations were for a democratic islamic future for Egypt....I am not a MB supporter but supported their asendancy to power only in the hope that longer term their support would wane and numerous parties would evolve with "islamist" ethics and values. And to be fair they did. The multiple "islamic" options were encouraging. If we made it to another election there would undoubtably been a vibrant multi party election with moderate islamist parties gaining ground. From Strong Egypt, Egypt Current to the secular parties which would have recognised that their values were not incompatible with an Islamist frame of reference in a majority muslim country. The future was bright and the MB were really not so bad. Political incompetence is one thing and we could have removed them at the next election. But.....Well we all know who did what said what and supported what. May God forgive and also may all Egyptians forgive those that supported this bloody coup led by Sissy Boy Sawaris and his paid thugs and all the force of the media. Oh and not to forget the 12 million people who crammed into Tahrir Square. That truly was a feat given that statisticians have shown only 250,000 can fit into the square.....

And now we have not only mass murder in the streets but mass murder in the courtrooms...

The government should be thankful it is so close to Israel. By kissing up to it and helping starve Gaza they can buy tolerance from the US for whatever crimes they want to commit against Egyptians. It should buy enough time to use such heavy-handed tactics to restore the Mubarak-era status quo. If you are lucky, after they have crushed anything that looks like a threat they might back off and you'll regain the level of freedom Mubarak gave you.

"I know very well that this sentence will be overturned but till it does , it will unleash real hell in Minya. We are speaking about tribal armed society in Upper Egypt. "

Our brave Police and State Security and Judiciary have dealt with this before in the 1990s and can easily do this again. State Security knows how to neutralise this. Only this time, there will be a big difference : the Army will get directly involved, smashing the Islamists in Upper Egypt.

These fascists called others "trades of religion" but they themselves are hawking religion like there is no tomorrow. The fascists now pull in their Grand Mufti to approve of Stalinist mass executions of political rivals. They also get their al Azhar elites kiss the ass of the fascist military on every occasion possible.

They say the military is a patriotic institution? No, screw the terrorist military.

Its like Egypt is in the Middle Ages again, with Star Chambers and Inquisitions/Mihnas.

It should be obvious now to even the most deluded pro-government nutcase that Sisi is a psychotic dictator keeping with the tradition of most of his predecessors (but even worse).

The man is a pathological liar who will do anything for the presidency. Sisi's personal ambitions are being used by Egypt's true ruling elite as puppet strings to get him moving how they desire.

There is no chance whatsoever that Sisi or his goons will ever produce a democratic Egypt. Whether Sisi has power over the judiciary or not is not really the main issue. It is patently obvious that he completely supports the murderous thugs in the government and that they are his allies. Every shred of data that exists points toward the fact that Sisi approves of his government's conduct and is, in fact, encouraging it.

No self-respecting revolutionary or liberal movement could possibly support these state terrorists. A huge number of the political parties have members in jailed or being tortured over the barbaric protest law.

The question is how long can this reconstituted dictatorship last. It is failing very badly for sure, but many still are not awake to its obvious nature.

One of the most disgusting things about this grotesque elite is the degree to which it spits on the sacrifice of those who died in 2011 and other years trying to advance the cause of freedom and democracy in Egypt.

I'm not so sure Sisi is as personally power-hungry or in charge as you think. With this hesitating he is starting to look to me more scared than excited about being president. I am starting to suspect he didn't expect the wave of hero-worship that he got after July 3 and that he is a currently terrified of becoming president and getting sold out when he fails to fix Egypt's insurmountable problems. The security forces seem to be running totally amok on their own and I am not so sure he really in the driver's seat here. The secret police probably don't need his encouragement to torture and he may be riding a tiger by the ears.

That said, everything you say about the new order is quite true. The difference between being ruled by a strong dictator and a weak one with limited control over his thugs may not be that important to the country at large. Actually the first might be better.

Interesting points. Your arguments would provide an additional reason as to why yet more power was recently transfer from the presidency to the military leadership. Sisi definitely seems to be having second thoughts and much trepidation about the whole matter. He surely must realize how likely this entire presidential endeavor is to lead him to a future jail sentence or even possibly the grave.

One thing, though, I wonder about is why Sisi did not simply quell the notion of mounting a presidential bid before it reached this point of no return. At first he claimed he wouldn't run. Then, months later, he became ambiguous about the topic. Finally, he shifted toward a confirmation of a candidacy. The whole idea of him running as a candidate is a terrible idea, but for some reason he went along with it rather than resist the pressure. This, plus his seeming approval of the atrocious behavior of the security, judicial, and other bodies, are some reasons why I have started to wonder whether he had secret ambitions that his masters are playing upon for the own ends. My current interpretation is that the true ruling elite needs him to shut out other presidential contenders and prevent opposition from coalescing around new organization or ideological front. This naturally will extend to the parliament as well.

The whole personality cult seems mainly to have been a deliberate creation of Egypt's true political, military, and socio-economic elite, created in an effort to get a puppet in place for the presidency. Though I do acknowledge that it took on a life of its own and gained a measure of genuine support among much of the populace. Whether Sisi simply is playing his appointed role here without necessarily approving of all that is happening or has deeper ambitions, that could be either way.

I agree that the secret police would be running amok even if Sisi was not present.

Either way, his presidency is destined to reach a ruinous and desolate end. If he can't get a handle on the vicious security bodies or control economic policy in a rational fashion, he is toast. His popularity will plunge and his administration will be fatally riven by infighting. The elite also is going to do everything possible to dominate the parliament and prevent it from remotely resembling a democratic entity.

If he is an aspiring dictator, the mask will come off quickly and he will be screwed.

The scenario that is unfolding right now reminds me a lot of the protracted conflicts that other developing states experienced. If the pattern holds, I wouldn't be surprised if eventually we see the Revolutionary Socialists or some similar movement make a major sweep in political power in the coming years.

He probably weakened about running for office because everyone around him was asking him to. He is likely surrounded by sycophants and yes-men who play up abilities and how much the country needs him. Would you turn down power if everyone you talked to for months on end assured you that it was popular, necessary and for the good of the country? Especially if the people asking were the secret police? It would take a pretty big man. I'm not sure I'd do it.

That said I fully agree the Mubarak era elite is using him as a vessel for their return. Is he strong enough to steer, or will he be a figurehead? We'll see I guess. For that matter the two aren't totally mutually exclusive. Sisi undoubtedly played a major role in Rabaa but I frankly doubt he personally had anything to do with the 529. They can have their own agendas which he tries to manipulate for his own ends as best he can. There are intermediate steps between absolute master and puppet.

It's a shame what it's happening in Egypt. In 2011 I was in front of TV, excited about the revolution, how the brave pepole fighted against oppression. After that a group of people MB, captured the revolution and won democratically the election. The people fighting at Tahrir didn't have the political machinery organized to be represented after . One year of Mursi goverment, not very clear, and completely biased towards his muslim point of view, gave the perfect excuse to the military to take the power back. Now, when I watch on TV more than 500 people sentenced to death penalty, I feel very sad. Egypt deserves a good future. I love this country and its population. Al Sisi is another Mubarak, sad history again

Thank You for your comment Please keep it civilized here , I will not tolerate any insult in my blog or any racist or hateful commentThe Comments in this blog with exclusion of the blog's owner do not represent the views of the blog's owner